Royal Weddings - What Was and What Will Be

(Picture Source: http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQECN9etc7nU8fSWastw4V87iJMIFYThowuPH3jLL-sIvx9noPn)

Tomorrow we will be the witnesses of another Royal Wedding which the whole world is looking forward to see, and one of two of this kind this year. It is a moment when people tend to be distracted from their daily problems and look towards something which for them is just a dream. But recent years have shown that royal weddings can also become reality for someone who was born as a "normal" citizen. Just like the one last year, when the princess married her fitness instructor. This is maybe why popularity has grown so much.

As this year all eyes are set on UK and then on Monaco, I have selected some clips of the former weddings in those regions. Each one had a different story to tell and each surprised in its own way.

On the 20th November 1947, former Princess Elizabeth, now Queen Elizabeth II, married Philip of Mountbatten. The times were harsh as they were in the shadow of the war and the government allocated two dressing coupons for the Queen to pay for her dress. But the population wouldn't have it and they all sent in via mail their dressing coupons so their queen could have one of the most wonderful dresses there ever were. And the two were then happily married in the cathedral of Westminster.

(Movie source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=uG7pzFdzuyk)

In the south, in Monaco, Prince Rainier III got married on the 18th of April 1956 to his Hollywood Princess Grace Kelly after a short engagement period. She became the princess of the hearts in Monaco and everywhere else where she went, and her tragic death made everybody extremely sad. Nevertheless, her beauty still impresses people today and her spirit is still over Monaco. The Monegasque people still look up to her memory and wonder if the future princess can be at least 50% of what her "mother in law" was.

(Movie source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFu2tBQf8tU)

On the 29th of July 1981, Prince Charles of GB got married to his first wife and the mother of his two sons, Diana Spencer, in the Saint-Paul cathedral in London. 2500 guests and over 800 million viewers witnessed what was to be one of history's mistakes and the beginning of a tragic life. Tomorrow, their son William will marry Kate, who is wearing the same engagement ring as Diana did, and their wedding will be a world spectacle, which can be seen also broadcast-ed live on the internet (for the first time at the royal wedding, they say). I hope people will sometime soon stop to compare her with Diana or she will probably have a tougher life than Diana did.

(Movie source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQTe47cR-Ws)

After years and decades of love in secret and after being divorced for other years, Prince Charles finally married his true love, Camilla Parker Bowles, at the Windsor Castle. The ceremonies were a total understatement and it showed that both were mature enough to leave all that glamour behind, due to two most obvious reasons: the age (how would she have looked in a 10-meter long dress?) and the public reaction (people still consider Diana as their true princess and don't want her replaced). The two received their blessings at St. Georges Chapel in Windsor and then registered their marriage at Guildhall, also in Windsor.

(Movie source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIJMyv7BawQ&feature=related)

We should hope that Kate is more fortunate than Diana, at least we know for sure that there won't be financing problems for her wedding gown as her grandmother in law had. We hope that William will have chosen indeed from his heart and not due to a matchmaking process and that the two of them will live happily ever after.

And for Albert II of Monaco, there is a hope that his wife will be around for more years than Grace Kelly was for her husband, and that Charlene will capture the hearts of the Monegasque people without any difficulties.

And for us...there is the dream which can become reality, this is what we need to say to each-other every day. There are still eligible princes and princesses in the world. But then again, they are all just normal people, and there are people all over the world. You just need to look around. Maybe your prince is just around the corner.